Inspired Choices: Translation and Transmission of the Latin Versions of Hystoria Barlaam et Iosaphat

Hystoria Barlaam et Iosaphat is a hagiographic story of a prince Iosaphat and his spiritual mentor Barlaam, both of whom strive to embody the most Christian virtues. It has been described as “mosaic of texts” (“mosaico literario”, De la Cruz Palma 2001: 19) and enjoyed extraordinary popularity throughout the Middle Ages, as attested by the vast spectrum of translations and their respective manuscript copies. The aim of this paper is therefore twofold; in the first place to present, albeit broadly, the extremely complex transmission of the Barlaam et Iosaphat legend and to compare its Latin versions with the Hebrew counterpart, produced in Barcelona between the 12th and the 13th century. On the other hand, we would like to focus on the hypertextual aspects of the Hebrew text whilst scrutinizing the manuscript miniatures by which it is accompanied. The most striking feature of these illuminations is that they do not usually appear in other Hebrew manuscripts of this type. An attempt will be made to propose a reason for this iconographic anomaly. By means of these comparisons and presentations we would like to show which pieces of this dense, rich legend were being highlighted and which were obliterated.